Last month I wrote about the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), a resource for accessing information for the various
species on Earth. Another initiative that is also attempting to build a
centralized library for the diverse species on Earth is the
International Barcode of Life Project (iBOL).
What this project aims to do is to genetically identify and catalogue species through DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding is
a method of using short segments of DNA to identify species. As DNA will vary from species to species, using a common section of the DNA for each
species will differentiate between them, thereby identifying the
species in question. These DNA barcodes are stored in digital format
and can be accessed through the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD).
This project was officially launched on September 25,
2010 in Toronto, Ontario. An international collaboration of more than
25 countries have been committed towards working on Phase 1 (2010-2015),
with Canada, specifically, the University of Guelph, leading the way. While the DNA library is
being populated with barcodes, scientists hope that one day mobile
devices will be available to read the barcodes in the field.
I
first heard about DNA barcoding in my university biodiversity class in
the early 2000s. It's exciting to hear how far this idea has come. By
being able to quickly and accurately identify species, this resource
will have huge impacts on species conservation, food inspection, and
human health.
